The Trangie Local Aboriginal Land Council's Wungunja Cultural Centre is one of four NSW Aboriginal cultural centres and keeping places that will lead the way as cultural collection digital champions thanks to an $800,000 Creative Capital investment by the NSW Government.

This is a second phase of the First Nations Digitisation Project, after a successful first year, further funding has been approved to continue the project for another two years, allowing the cultural collections to be carefully audited, catalogued and digitised by local, Aboriginal-led teams.

The Wungunja Cultural Centre, will receive $100,000, which will enable them to employ another part-time digital officer, as well as a school-based trainee one day per week.

 "The Trangie Local Aboriginal Land Council's Wungunja Cultural Centre is such a precious resource in our region," says Member for Dubbo, Dugald Saunders.

"The Centre already plays an incredibly active role in educating the community about the region’s rich Aboriginal culture and heritage.

"With additional resources and state-of-the-art technology, Wungunja will be able to professionally manage and preserve its collections for future generations, not just in Trangie but further afield, with copies of their records to be shared with the State Library of NSW", said Mr Saunders.

Dugald Saunders MP and Trangie Land Council CEO, Terrie Milgate standing outside of the Wungunja Cultural Centre in Trangie [Image: Supplied]

Trangie Aboriginal Land Council CEO Terrie Milgate, welcomed the funding saying, “Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, the community loves this space, and they have a real sense of ownership. It’s a place of education so the schools come over and learn a lot as well".

“It’s a very valuable centre for the community and we just hope that we get more visitation. That’s what we’d like to see", said Ms Milgate.

The co-design funding model is supported by a collaborative partnership involving Create NSW, State Library of NSW and NSW Aboriginal Culture, Heritage & Arts Association (ACHAA), with each partner organisation providing support to the cultural centres to ensure their success.

ACHAA Conference Attendees including Georgina O'Neill, Terrie Milgate, and Dianne Smith of the Wungunja Cultural Centre, Trangie Local Aboriginal Land Council [Image: Joy Lai, State Library of NSW]

Steve Miller, General Manager ACHAA said the initiative helps close the gaps and implement systems that are missing in collection management, while ensuring work is carried out on Country and managed by the Aboriginal custodians of the collections.

“These valuable cultural collections, some of national significance, connect the centres and their communities to Country, knowledge and their heritage,” Mr Miller said.

“The program has helped these centres enormously in terms of employment and regional on-site training, community-country connections and understanding of these collections.”

The collaborative partnership hopes to create a timeless legacy, making sure that Aboriginal communities have ongoing access to their heritage, culture, and language through community collections. Importantly, as an Aboriginal-led collaborative initiative, with expert guidance from the sector, it sets a strong foundation for future projects.

The Wungunja Cultural Centre which was first opened in 2017, has also recently received a New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council Community Fund Grant of $150,000 to extend the building to include an exhibition and office space, and also $100,000 from Driver Reviver Funding to install more restroom facilities.